The world could use some new, cathartic rock & roll right now, and Bleaker is just the band to give it to us. The Birmingham via Huntsville duo wraps fire-bomb subversion in radio-kiss melody and whoa-dude raw-power. The group’s sound, as heard on songs like “Drag,” from 2020 EP “Ugh, Okay Whatever,” feels destined for Pitchfork worship and Coachella pogoing.
Bleaker is an angry band for angry times. They’re also singalong fun. For a band that often sounds pissed, the two musicians comprising Bleaker are really nice people to talk with. When reached for a phone interview on a recent afternoon, singer/guitarist Emily McEvoy and drummer Jake Driver were at the rental house they share.
McEvoy is 23-years-old and Driver is 22. They first met back in sixth grade. They bonded over music skidding from Paramore and Cannibal Corpse to Green Day and Wu Tang Clan. They played guitar together some. By the time McEvoy and Driver were seniors at Sparkman High School, they were tight. Growing up in small towns, Harvest and Toney respectively, they felt like literally the only people there like them.
“I didn’t have the same opinions as anybody there,” McEvoy says. She adds with a chuckle, “I think I always knew I was going to be in a band and sing about like cops.” Driver says, “I didn’t agree with anybody in high school. Being considered an outcast in that way really shaped me.” McEvoy adds, “And now here we are together doing the thing we’ve always wanted to do.”
Thus far, Bleaker has released two EPs and one full-length album, 2019′s impressive “Stargazer,” which opens with “Skin.” It’s the very first song the band every wrote, and a rawer version appears on their self-titled 2018 EP. “I sent Jake an early, really, really, rough version of it,” McEvoy says, “before we even formed as a band, And I was like, ‘Hey do you want to be in a band together? And there is this song, too.’ From there we wrote ‘Skin’ how it is now, super muddy and grungy. It’s kind of a song about pointing out somebody’s bulls---.”
The “Stargazer” version of “Skin” is a ravaged ruby that’ll appeal to classic alt-rock fans. But with McEvoy’s haunting she-howl at center instead of some Cobainnabe, the sound, while familiar, is fresh. When asked about ’90s rock album touchstones, McEvoy and Driver cite “In Utero” and “The Last Splash.”
Neither of them were even born yet when Kurt Cobain died or The Breeders first went on hiatus, but their ability to channel that music without aping it is undeniable. And infectious. Another thing keeping Bleaker from being Flannel Van Fleet is they also listen to pop acts like Charlie XCX and rappers including Run the Jewels. The diversity subtly resurfaces in the band’s own musical arrangements. “I like a lot of pop music outside of heavier rock music," McEvoy says, "because, well, I’m all over the place.”
One place Bleaker is very comfortable in is standing up for the marginalized. They wrote “Drag,” a song that shifts between Krautrock angularity and fuzz-rave groove, for the LGBTQ+ community. Driver feels that track was also, “a turning point for us as a band. ‘Drag’ was very poppy, but it was the first song where we let ourselves go in terms of what we’re singing about or how we’re playing the music.” McEvoy says the band also backs causes like Black Lives Matter, as well as funding police less and funding education more. “We just want everybody to be treated equally, I suppose,” she says.
It’s natural for turbulent times, like these, to inspire songwriting by musicians of any age. However for musicians in their early 20s, and with their own future that’s at stake and not their children’s, it often feels more intense. Bleaker have been writing and demoing songs for their sophomore album. Asked if 2020′s cold mess – racial injustice, political unrest, riots, violence, pandemic ravaged public health, spiraled economy – is fueling any new songs, McEvoy says, “Literally the whole album.”
Driver has been listening to a lot of hardcore punk, also influencing the material. Key tracks on the album, the title of which is yet to be revealed, include: “Goth Goes To A Club” (which Driver calls “the catchiest song on the record”); “Pigs” (a commentary on police brutality); and “Bruh” (one of Bleaker’s fastest songs yet). McEvoy says “Yeah, I Know” is a cut that “sounds sad but the music is very pretty.” Driver calls it “my favorite song of ours we’ve written.”
The rock band Bleaker. (Courtesy Kya Qvale)
McEvoy and Driver moved from the Huntsville area to Birmingham to attend college. Jake studied art at University of Montevallo for two years before dropping out and getting a job managing a Hot Topic. She’s about to graduate from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a degree in graphic design and marketing. They recorded Bleaker’s material released thus far in their home’s basement. McEvoy describes her relationship with Driver as “very wholesome. Jake’s my best friend, but then we’re also in band together and there’s no qualms or drama.” Driver tells me, “It’s just all music and friendship, man.”
That connection feeds a sound bigger than two people. In addition to her urgent magnetic vocals, McEvoy is an expressive and gifted guitarist. She plays a Gibson SG, a la Angus Young and Tony Iommi, through not only a guitar amp but a bass amp too, widening the band’s spectrum. She artfully dabs octave and tremolo effects for color. Driver’s drumming contains lots of little song hooks and gear shifts. It’s deceptively orchestrated, whether Jake’s banging a 22-inch kickdrum or simmering the snare, as heard on “Time’s Up,” a metallic track referencing the movement of the same name. The band often closes their shows with that one.
Bleaker’s last live performance before the coronavirus shutdown was their EP release party, mid-March at Huntsville’s Salty Nut Brewery. “It was a really good last show to have,” Driver says. “We had a good bit of people were there, friends were there and everybody was moshing and having a good time.”
They were booked to perform at Austin, Texas culture cavalcade South By Southwest this year. “I got the email confirming we were going to be playing,” McEvoy says, “and I remember being so stoked. That’s something really cool for a smaller local indie band to go to.” Alas SXSW was one of the first major events to be corona-canceled. “It’s a bummer it didn’t work out,” she says, “but everything happens for a reason.”
Onstage, the band sometimes add intros or outros to songs, to keep the music a live animal and not a recital. But for now, Bleaker is taking a hiatus from playing live, and plans to do so until there’s a coronavirus vaccine. Which can’t come soon enough for McEvoy. “I know we’re not the only ones in this boat,” she says, “but live shows are very therapeutic for me in a sense. You’re listening to really cool bands and you’re getting the opportunity to show your music to strangers. But at the same time you’re able to meet new people and make connections, and that’s something I seriously miss.”
In the meantime, Bleaker plans to issue a series of singles leading up to that angsty second LP, dropping in 2021. They’ll be completing the album in a new home, Nashville, where McEvoy and Driver plan to move later this year. They’re big fans of the local rock scene there, ranging from indie-famous acts like Soccer Mommy to rising talents Folly Ball. “There’s such a diverse community,” Driver says. “I think we just want to see the world, and Nashville seemed like the next step for us.”
(For more info on Bleaker visit bleaker-official-1.square.site.)
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